Apparatus for producing pressed-metal articles



A. GROB. I APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING PRESSED METAL ARTICLES v APPLICATION FILED OCT-27.1917. L345 594 Patented July 6, 19%.,

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. II 1 M mum- APPLICATION FILED OCT-27,1917.

Patented July 5, 192%.

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Specification of Letters Tatent.

arm-mar application filed December so, 1912, Serial no. reams. Divided and this application filed.

, j i Utober 27, 1917. serial 1%.,198367.

To, aZZtuhom it may concern: a

13c it known that: helmets Union, a cit1- zen of the Unitedtitates, residing at Cleveland, in the county of (luyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Tmprovement in Apparatus for Froducing l ressed lt letal Articles, 01 which the following is a iulh clear, and exact description, rel erence being hadto the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to an apparatus for produclng metal articles, such as cans, barrels and other receptacles,and is particularly adapted for the production from pressed metal otarticles of th s kmdhaving a greaterdiameter intermediate of the ends than at the ends thereof. The invention illustrated,described and explained herein 1s a divislon oft my application No. 73919afiled December 30, 1912. its articles of this character referredto have been constructed heretofore, it has been deemed necessary to produce this bilge or intermediate enlargement either byybringlng down the metal from the top or upwardly from the bottom of the blank to provide for the, enlargement,

or by stretching the metal at such intermef diate portion. Both of these operations necessitate the application of very great force to the metal, requiring heavy and expensive machmery; a more serlous detrr ment, however, to these processes results- :trom the strain to which the metalis sub- 1' ected, said strain thinning and weakening the metal and rendering it less capable of withstanding the incidents of use than it it were not so mistreated. For convenience oi description, the metal from whlch the article a blank at anystage prior to the operation which gives 1t the finalbilged shape. Tn

the practice of my invention, the blank is made of adiameterequal, or substantially equal, to the greatestdiameter of the finished article, and this blank is then subjected to the action ofmy apparatus which operates to elongate the blank and reduce the diameter thereof where desirable (in the case ofa barrel, at the ends) and to provide sufficient metal in any transverse plane to allowlthe blank, by being merely expanded,

to attain the desired shape and cross sectional area without materially stretching the metal; That is to say, by thelpeculiar the blank at the place where needed- 0o,

Patented any d esel. V

enable the blankto be given the shape which exists in the finished article by merely expand ng certaln portions of the blank withishing the strength thereof materially; in producing the article, 1 preferably make use of the mechanismillustrated here- 1n tor the purpose of producing an article in the manner described. in the drawings forming part hereof, Figure 1 represents a perspective view of a blank produced by my apparatus,the blank being of the, form which it assumes prior to, the last or expanding operation, Fig. 2 represents the same blanlrprior to bein subjected to the.

operzfition by whichthe iliorm shown in the preceding figure is produced; Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view through a mach ne or apparatus for producing the blank shown in Fig. 1, the blank of Fig. 2 being shown in place; Fig. 4: represents a similar view showing the positions of the parts while the blank 18 being operated upon; Fig. 5 1s a transverse sectional view taken through the rollers 9-9, the parts being shown in the positions whichthey occupy in Fig. 4:; Fig. 6 a sectional view through the central part of the blank shown in Fig. 1; and Flg. 7 a 'detail 1111 plan of the machine or apparatus shown inFigs. 3 and l, the movable dies being omitted.

Describing the various parts illustrated herein by the use of reference characters, 1 denotes the vertically reoiprocable frame of a die press, said frame carrying a plunger 2 and having pivoted thereto a plurality of downwardly extending arms 3, the purpose of which will be disclosed hereinafter. These arms andthe plunger pass through a stationary intermediate frame member 4, openings being provided for such plunger and for the arms,the openings for thearms being laterally elongated, as shown at 5, to

permitfthe arms to swing upon their pivotal supports. j i i e 6 denotes a stationary tubular member having aninternal diameter at least as great as the maximum diameter of the blank. The member 6 1s provlded w1th' upwardly and outwardly PTOJGClHIlg arms 7, fourpairs out, stretching or drawing the metal to any material extent and hence without dimin- (ill of such arms beingshown. These arms extend upwardly, preferably to the top of the tubularme'mber 6, and each pair of arms 7 supports at their upper ends 'a'shaft' 8 on which there is mounted a roller 9. The arms 3 are adapted to pass between the rollers 9 and the tubular member 6. The member 6 is provided at its upper end with an up wardly extending flange 6 and is slotted below the top thereof to provide guides for a plurality of movable dies I0, there being onemovable die for each arm 3 and roller 9.

Each'ofthese movable dies 10 is wedgeshaped in cross section, having its upwardly flared sides '11 supported on the reversely' flared or inclined sides '12 of segmentalfixed =dies 13 (seeFigs. 3 and 7). The outer ends of the dies 10 are adapted to bear against the inner edges or faces of the arms 3, the outer faces or-edges of such arms bearing against rollers 9, the inner edges or faces of s'aidiarms- 'being concavely recessed, as

shown at114,for purposes described herein after. By reference to Figs. 5 and 7, it will be seen that the inner edges 13 of the fixed dies are rounded off downwardly and out- .wardly whereby, as the movable dies are reto being operated upon by the mechanism describedherein, is of a diameter equal to the greatest diameter of the article which The inner edges it is desired to produce. of the dies 10 and 13, when the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3, form a circle the diameter of which is substantially equal to the end diameter which it is desired the blank shall have after such operation. As shown, this diameter is only sufficiently greater than the diameter of the plunger 2 to enable the metal of the blank arto be received conveniently between the plunger and-the innere'dges'of the dies. With the parts :arranged as described, the member 1 ismoved downwardlyby the mechanism usually employed in die presses, carrying theplunger 2 withit, and this plunger strips the; blank 64 from its support 15 and forces the blank downwardly within the tubular -member 6 and across the inner edges of the I dies 10 and 13.. WVith the parts constructed as shown, the lower end of the blank will be a circle of substantially the same diameter as the-plunger 2; As the plunger descends the blank presses against the inner edges-:of the dies'and the dies 10, being movable, .willbe pressed outwardly against the arms .3, which arms will serve as profilers to control the through the engagement of the outer edges movement of these dies 14 with the rollers 9. The dies 10 are permitted to move outwardly until the middle points of the concave edges 14 bear against said dies, after which further downward movement of the plunger will cause the dies 10 to be forced inwardly by the concave edges 14 until at the end of the downward stroke ofthe plunger the upper end of the blank will be contracted to substantially the diameter of the plunger, as may be readily seen from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 4:. By the operation of the mechanisnras described, the blank a has been reduced-to a minimum diameter at its ends, but the cross sectional area increases gradually from each end toward the center:

Those portions of the blank which have been operating against the dies 10 will form outwardly projecting segments 6 and the portions of the blank intermediate of such segments and which hai e been operated upon the fixed dies 13 will form cylindrical segments 0. With the contour given to the inner curved edges Ll of the arms 3, the segments 6 will be of true bilge form, said segments having their greatest amount ofv projection at the longitudinal center of the blank Owing to the manner of constructing the dies and the operation of the same upon the blank, the linear extent of any inwardly directed portion 0, d of the blank between two of the outwardly projecting segments 7) will be equal to or substantially equal to the linear extent of an are e of thecircle continuing and joining said segments 6 and having the same center of curvature as said segments. This is true for any transverse section that may be taken through the I blank. As a result, the inwardly projecting portions 0, (Z of the blank may be pressed or expanded outwardly to form a symmetrical continuation of the segments 7) without materially stretching the metal or subjecting it to any other strain than that necessary merely to move it, without material stretching, from one position to another. This expanding or pressing outwardly of the indentations may be accomplished by any approved mechanism including the well-known expanding dies or rollers, and hence illustration of such expanding mechanism is believed to be unnecessary.

While the construction shown herein is designed for the production of an article of the general shape of a bilged barrel, it will be obvious that varying shapes may be given to the blank and to the article to be produced therefrom by suitably varying the proportions of parts (and particularly the curvature of the edges 14 of the arms or profilers 3), as conditions may demand.

By the apparatus disclosed herein, it will ell] Leena be evident that an article may be produced having an expanded portion between its ends without, on the one hand, the necessity for bringing down the metal from the ends of the blank to the middle or enlarged por tion and without, on the other hand, materially stretching the intermediateportion of the blank to accommodate the increased dimensions at this point.

/Vhile I have shown herein a blank of cylindrical form which is subjected to the operations whereby a finished article having an enlarged intermediate section may be produced, I do not intend to be limited to this particular shape,except as such limitation may be included positively in the claims hereto annexed. For certain purposes, it may be advisable to use a blank which is rectangular or polygonal in section.

Having thus described myinvention what I claim is+ f 1. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a movable die member, a blank support, means for causing relative movement between said die member and said blank support, and means for moving the said die member, the last mentioned means comprising a profiler having oppositely inclined portions controlling the movement of the die member toward and from the support.

.2. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of a series of mov able die members, a blank support, means for causing relative movement between said die members and said blank support, and means for moving the said die members, the

last mentioned means comprising profilers each having oppositely inclined portions controlling the movement of the die members toward and from the support.

3. In an apparatus of the character described, the combination of an annular series of die members, a blank support, means for causing relative movement between the said members and the blank support, and means controlled by such movement for moving the die members inwardly and permitting them to yield outwardly, the last mentioned means comprising profilers each having oppositely inclined portions, and rollers engaging said profilers. y

4. In an apparatus of the character de scribed, the combinationof a series of die members, a blank support,means for causing relative movement between the said members and the blank support, and means controlled bysuch movement for moving the die members toward and from the support, the last mentioned means comprising pro filers each having oppositely inclined portions, andanti-friction devices cooperating with said profilers. u

5. in an apparatus of the character described, the, combination ofa series of fixed.

and movable die members, a blank support, means for causing relative movement between said die members and saidblank'support, and means controlled by such movemerit for permitting the movable die members to move outwardly and for moving the same inwardly, the last mentioned means last mentioned means comprising profilers having curved portions adapted to engage the movable die members, and anti-friction means retaining said profilers in operative relation to said movable die members.

7. In an apparatus for making articles of the character set forth, the combination of a series of alternating fixed and movable dies, a plunger, means for moving said plunger through the central opening of said dies, and means cooperating with the movable dies to cause the same to move gradually inwardly and permit the same to move gradually outwardly during the movement of the plunger.

8. In an apparatus of the character set forth, the combination of an annular series of fixed and radially movable dies, a blank holder movable through the interior of said dies, and means movable with the blank holder and engaging the movable dies to variably. limit the outward movement thereof.

9. In an apparatus of the character set forth, the combination of a series of fixed and movable dies, a plunger movable through the interior of said dies, rollers opposite the outer edges of the movable dies, and profilers interposed between the rollers and the movable dies and movable with said plunger, said profilers each having opposaid movable dies to traverse their respective guides.

11. In an apparatus of the character set forth, the combination of an annular series of fixed and movable dies, the fixed dies havsuch blank holder for moving the movable dies inwardly and permitting the same to move outwardly along their guides.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto am): my signature.

ARNOLD GIN P. 

